#Foreign Swordmasters Appendix

Contents

This volume is the "Chronicle of Japanese Swordmasters." Yet briefly introducing the founders and representative inheritors of the foreign schools already covered in ex2 helps round out the reading. This appendix is their brief profiles + abridged versions of their Lord-grade sheets.

Note: Unlike the 12 of the main text, these figures are presented in a heavily abridged form. The fiction openings are short, and the "if you fight them / if you would serve them" sections are simple too. For details, see the relevant ex2 school document.

Conversion principle: The classes and dan ranks in the abridged sheets below are conversion values based on co. Base attributes follow initial 4-point distribution + an attribute +1 on each odd-numbered dan advancement, with a cap of +3. Dual classes are written as primary class N-dan (secondary class dual class). At 10-dan, the Renown Title is also noted, and the derived values follow the formulas Energy = 10 + Finesse and Wounds = 3 + Physique + Tough (max 2).

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#Scent — The Blade Across the Sea

Not only Japanese swordmasters are swordmasters. In the same era — or before and after it — Europe and China too had those who walked an age by the sword. Their swords have a different grain than the Japanese sword. The straight-line cut of wrath, the geometric thrust to a point, the sword-dance of the wandering monk. The blade of each land resembles the people of that land.

The five figures in this appendix — though they almost never came to Japan directly, their schools reached Japan. The 12 foreign schools of ex2 are their lineage. This appendix introduces them briefly. They deserve a longer treatment, but the center of this volume is Japan.

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#1. Johannes Liechtenauer (Johannes Liechtenauer, 14th-century Germany)

School: Liechtenauer-ryu — included in ex2-10-07

#Fiction in One Line

A small village in southern Germany. An old man holds a long sword and has his disciples repeat a single form. "The cut of wrath (Zornhau) does not come from wrath. It comes from reason."

#Life

Exact dates of birth and death unknown. Active in the latter half of the 14th century. A master of swordsmanship from southern Germany. He established the system of the longsword (Longsword). Several successors, beginning with his disciple Peter von Danzig (Peter von Danzig), left behind manuscripts of the Liechtenauer school — these are the classics of European longsword fencing.

The beginning of the German Fechtbuch (Fechtbuch · fencing manual) tradition. The 3 great masters (Meister der Drey Kunst) — Liechtenauer, Sigmund Ringeck, and Paulus Kal.

#Lord-Grade Abridged

• School: Liechtenauer-ryu (ex2-10-07)
• Class: samurai 9-dan conversion (European-style heavily-armored swordsman)
• Courage 2 · Finesse 1 · Physique 3 · Wisdom 1 · Presence 0 · Fate 1
• Energy 11 · Wounds 7 · Defense: unworn 10 / worn 16 (heavy armor; Western plate armor converted as o-yoroi)
• Main specialties: Immovable Formation · single-combat declaration · Tough
• Signature: [technique] Cut of Wrath (Zornhau) — check +2, [Pierce 2]. If he reaches Swordsmanship Master, [form] Master's Strike becomes available.

#Point of Contact with Japan

Can appear within Sengoku-era Japan: a knight or mercenary brought over on a Nanban trade ship. In particular, from the 1570s onward, there is a possibility that a Liechtenauer-school inheritor was among the European martial artists hired by daimyo houses in Kyushu. By the principle of attenuation, within Japan the divinity grade and school effects drop by 1 step.

#If You Fight Them / If You Would Serve Them (extremely brief)

• If you fight them: counter the charging power peculiar to the longsword — close-range Unarmed Combat or defensive technique.
• If you would serve them: understanding of European culture is required (the ex2-10 devotion condition). Within Japan, approach is through the Kirishitan community.

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#2. Fiore dei Liberi (Fiore dei Liberi, c. 1350–1410, Italy)

School: Fiore school — included in ex2-10-08

#Fiction in One Line

The garden of a count's house in northern Italy. Fiore teaches four disciples at once. "Sword, dagger, unarmed combat, spear — all are extensions of one body. Do not think of them as two."

#Life

Born around 1350 in Friuli (northern Italy). A master who synthesized several martial arts. His book "The Flower (Flos Duellatorum)" is a classic of European composite martial arts. He integrated sword, dagger, spear, and armored grappling into one system.

#Lord-Grade Abridged

• School: Fiore (ex2-10-08)
• Class: ronin 9-dan (scholar dual class) conversion
• Courage 2 · Finesse 2 · Physique 2 · Wisdom 2 · Presence 0 · Fate 0
• Energy 12 · Wounds 5 · Defense: unworn 10 / worn 14 (heavy armor; Western armored-fencing armor conversion)
• Main specialties: Wind Blade · Vital-Point Discernment · tactical direction
• Signature: [form] Close-Range Switch — sword → dagger → unarmed combat switch. A composite martial-arts form that binds distance change and weapon switching into a single breath.

#Point of Contact with Japan

The appearance of an Italian swordsman in Japan is extremely rare. It is possible that an escort warrior of the Fiore lineage might be among the Nanban trade merchants.

#If You Fight Them / If You Would Serve Them (extremely brief)

• If you fight them: do not watch only the sword. Since Fiore comes changing distance with dagger, unarmed combat, and spear, countermeasures against disarming and binding are necessary.
• If you would serve them: rather than initiation into a specific school, it is closer to a course in composite martial arts. Within Japan, an escort contract with a Nanban merchant or contact at a foreign settlement is most natural.

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#3. Jerónimo Carranza (Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza, 1539–1600, Spain)

School: La Destreza (La Destreza) — included in ex2-10-09

#Fiction in One Line

A plaza in Seville, Spain. Carranza holds a rapier and draws exactly one circle. "All combat lies within the circle. Outside it is illusion."

#Life

Born in Seville in 1539. He founded a geometric school of swordsmanship centered on the rapier, called La Destreza (La Destreza · the technique). An application of mathematics and geometry — he calculated the distance and angle to his opponent as a circle. In 1582 he wrote "The Philosophy of Swordsmanship."

His successor Luis Pacheco de Narváez completed and popularized this school.

#Lord-Grade Abridged

• School: La Destreza (ex2-10-09)
• Class: ronin 9-dan (scholar dual class, geometric duelist) conversion
• Courage 1 · Finesse 3 · Physique 1 · Wisdom 2 · Presence 1 · Fate 0
• Energy 13 · Wounds 5 · Defense: unworn 10 / no recommended armor (rapier duelist; armor not recommended)
• Main specialties: Gale · Vital-Point Discernment · Foresight · Tough
• Signature: [form] Decisive Single Point — check +4, [Pierce 3]. On a Critical Hit, the essence of La Destreza, driven into one fatal point.

#Point of Contact with Japan

Appearing rarely at Kyushu ports in the 1570s–1600s as an escort for Spanish sailors and merchants. Can be encountered in a Nanban trade campaign.

#If You Fight Them / If You Would Serve Them (extremely brief)

• If you fight them: once you enter the circle, you lose. You must forcibly break up the terrain, or narrow Carranza's Footwork with squad pressure.
• If you would serve them: closer to a geometry course than to swordsmanship. A PC interested in scholarship, surveying, or Navigation will be the most persuasive in approaching him.

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#4. Qi Jiguang (戚繼光, 1528–1588, Ming)

School: Tang-dao Collected Methods (唐刀集法) — included in ex2-10-10

#Fiction in One Line

The coast of Zhejiang (浙江). Qi Jiguang has his subordinates take up long sabers. "The wako's blade is short and sharp. Our blade is long and sweeps wide. That is the difference."

#Life

Born in Shandong in 1528. A general of the Ming dynasty. A hero of the subjugation of the wako (倭寇). He crushed the mixed Japanese-Chinese pirate bands that were then plundering the southeastern coast of China. He wrote a martial-arts manual called "Jixiao Xinshu (紀效新書)" — a compendium of practical Swordsmanship, Spearmanship, and training methods.

The Tang-dao Collected Methods is the Chinese long-saber technique recorded in his military treatise. There is also an aspect to it of being devised to stand against the Japanese sword of the wako. Its characteristic is a sword-style that sweeps wide.

#Lord-Grade Abridged

• School: Tang-dao Collected Methods (ex2-10-10)
• Class: samurai 10-dan (scholar dual class, Ming general) conversion
• Courage 2 · Finesse 1 · Physique 2 · Wisdom 2 · Presence 1 · Fate 0
• Energy 11 · Wounds 7 · Defense: unworn 10 / worn 14 (heavy armor; Ming-army commander's armor conversion)
• Main specialties: Immovable Formation · Overall Command · Tough 2
• Renown Title: Wandering General (samurai + scholar dual class)
• Signature: [form] Crosscut — simultaneous attack on 2 targets. As befits a commander, it combines squad command with area-sweeping cuts.

#Point of Contact with Japan

As a subjugator of the wako, he stands in an adversarial relationship with Japanese warriors. Yet his military treatise was re-imported into Japan, and Japanese commanders also consulted it. During the Imjin War, with the Ming army's participation, a direct encounter with the Tang-dao Collected Methods in Japan also occurs.

#If You Fight Them / If You Would Serve Them

• If you fight them: he is a general — more often an encounter as an army commander than a single duel. A challenge on the political and strategic side.
• If you would serve them: studying abroad in China is required. Within Japan it is effectively impossible. However, a setting in which a samurai PC who infiltrated the Ming army's camp during the Imjin War met him is possible.

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#5. Zhang Sanfeng (張三丰, legendarily 14th century, Ming · Daoist)

School: Wudang Sword (武當劍) — included in ex2-10-12

#Fiction in One Line

Amid the clouds of Mount Wudang. An old Daoist stands without holding a sword. "The sword is not the body. The body itself is the sword." When he turns once — all the fallen leaves around him scatter in a single direction.

#Life

A legendary figure. Both his existence and his dates are uncertain. By tradition he was active in the transition between the Yuan and Ming dynasties in the 14th century. The founder of Wudang school (武當派) Daoist martial arts. There is a theory that he is the originator of Taijiquan (太極拳).

Wudang Sword (武當劍) — a Daoist swordsmanship that subdues the strong with softness. It centers on evasion and reflection rather than attack.

#Lord-Grade Abridged

• School: Wudang Sword (ex2-10-12)
• Class: ronin 9-dan (shugenja dual class, transmission of the Daoist sword-immortal) conversion
• Courage 1 · Finesse 3 · Physique 2 · Wisdom 2 · Presence 0 · Fate 0
• Energy 13 · Wounds 6 · Defense: unworn 10 / no recommended armor (Daoist robe · Daoist practitioner; armor not recommended)
• Main specialties: Wind Blade · Master of Disengagement · Austerity Chain · Tough
• Signature: [stance] Taiji Sword-Dance — evasion +3, counterattack cost 0. [form] Setting-Sun Sword — the secret art of the Wudang Sword that turns an enemy's attack back by deflection.

#Point of Contact with Japan

A legendary Daoist of the Chinese interior. The probability of his coming to Japan directly is extremely low. However, after the opening of the Spirit Realm, he can descend as a heroic spirit or an immortal (仙人) — a transcendent encounter in the style of co-09-10.

#If You Fight Them / If You Would Serve Them

• If you fight them: extremely difficult. His Taiji Sword-Dance deflects direct attacks away, and because of his Daoist-style austerity transmission, he does not easily collapse even in a prolonged battle.
• If you would serve them: a pilgrimage to Mount Wudang in China is required. In Japan it is impossible.

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#Summary Table of the 5 Foreign Swordmasters

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#GM Note

Foreign swordmasters are used in a limited way in special scenarios of the main-text campaign. The three of Nanban trade · the Imjin War · heroic-spirit descent are the principal occasions for introducing them.

If the campaign is a pure Japanese Sengoku period, this appendix may be forgotten. But if you want an international tone or a time-spanning crossover — these five names open the door.

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"As far as a nation's blade reaches, there are the people of that nation. Where our blade does not reach, there is their blade." — the record of a certain nameless domain lord